Update on Road conditions for the Cape

[duggie]

Hi  GU Duke,

The group of Myswagers left on saturday morning and as stated by Boo Boo most are towing a camper. they are not/were not doing the Bloomfield Track.

But I think your question was targeted to Yogi,  No he was not towing a camper only a superbly modified 80 series Toyota wagon with heaps of fruit. He did the Bloomfield track from North to South and he did say that the road is in very poor condition and that if people were to tow a camper from South to North they would have their work cut out .

The South to North trip of the Bloomfield Track is by far a lot steeper than the North to South direction that yogi traveled.

Here is a link to the Douglas Shire in regards to the Bloomfield Track and the CREB Track.

http://douglas.qld.gov.au/sunshine-shines-light-damaged-douglas-road-network/

cheers duggie

[DaveCQ]

We travelled from South to North on Sunday. All 3 of us were towing campers. Slow and steady did the climbs. Still a little slippery in places but all good. It is drying out more and more all the time. If we had been there a couple of days before then, we wouldn't have done it as it would have been too slippery.
All have big heavy soft floor campers, 2 Prados and a 200 series.

Cheers . Dave.

[Symon]

Well I can give an update as I'm now in Weipa so have internet access.

The development road from Laura to Coen is in reasonable condition, a few rough spots here and there but overall pretty good.  North of Coen to the Weipa turnoff is corrugated but the grader crew is on it.

The rest of the crew are on their way to Dulhunty today.

[GU Duke]

Thanks for the responses guys.  Sorry about the delayed acknowledgement - too busy packing the house up to be online! 

It sounds like good news then!  A couple of the posts above got me anxious about just how wet it is and made me wonder whether folks were changing plans with towing and tracks.  Sounds like it should be a case of it's all OK with care and preparation.

Cheers,

[Chris J]

Lake field - North from Lakefield ranger station to Hahn and onto Musgrave Station is now open.

PDR
Road is in great condition except for sections from Laura to Musgrave (road crew working this area) few corrugations appearing on the corners so take care, water laying in most creek crossings and road dips, some dips getting  pot holed. Red and black soil country around the turnoff to Captain Billy is slick smooth and slippery so tack care

On way up traffic was below average but as the school holiday approached the traffic increased, On my return trip Sunday saw twice the traffic as Saturday, I passed several convoys heading north with one group having over twenty vehicles in convoy.

Southern OTL in good condition, slow going in places, all creek crossings have water some fast flowing:

Palm creek
is most difficult, lockers or a winch will get you through. The group bypassed this crossing and went in via the ranger crossing. I drove down to have a look at Palm Ck, the old exit is impassable but I did hear that someone crossed it a few day ago, (I saw no evidence of the crossing)there is a an exit to the right of the original exit but would require lockers or winch to complete. I doubt if a trailer would make it through this crossing. There is a new crossing, a track leads to the right just before the original crossing; this crossing is now the crossing being used by most (I didnt check out this crossing out)

Gunshot
take the western entry, the group spent a bit of time rebuilding the entry, when we arrived there were about a dozen vehicle waiting to cross, about 3ks from Gunshot heading north there is a large bog hole, take the bypass track right around it don't attempt as you will become bogged like one poor bugger that sank down to his door sill it took him over and hour to winch and recover his vehicle

Cockatoo creek
The group spent some time rebuilding the entry slope the entry is quite muddy towards the bottom, walk the creek first as it has some large holes in the creek base, water is fast flowing and about 700 mm deep where we crossed

Enjoy the Cape.

[Hoyks]

Road condition as of 18Jul14

Lakefield probably the best road I have driven. Hardly any corrugations, even through a lot of the road hasn't been graded yet this year.

Palm Creek. Took the new crossing 100m East of the flogged out one. Drove through with no issues at all. It was steep, but the base was firm and the exit looked a lot slipperier than it was. We put through a stock Prado, Land cruiser and the mighty BT50

Gunshot Eastern crossing was being chewed up by south bound vehicles when I left there. It was a reasonably steep entry, but modded vehicles were trying to climb it, ripping it up and then pulling out the winch. Western entry as shown in the trip reports here was also chewed up and full of cut logs. A Land Cruiser was wedged in there with the tow hitch jammed against the bank and a log pushed out of the mud and wedged against the bull bar. Took 1 1/2 hours with a shovel to get to the recovery point so that we could then snatch him. A shovel and an door sill were sacrificed to the Gunshot Gods.
The western entry was probably the better option, but it was knee deep mud last week. Make sure there are no log traps there for you. There was also a radiator with a 2" round stick through it, so check twice.

[87Bravo]

Thanks for the update Hoyks....we leave melbourne in 5 days for the tip going via the OTT.
So looking forward to it!
Mark

[Symon]

In regards to Palm Creek - there may be a chicken track that people can use.  When at the main crossing if you look to the left there is a track that follows the creek bank around for around 400m and then cuts across the creek where it is little more than a gully.

I didn't have much time so didn't drive it, but if someone is up that way I'm curious to see if it does link back up with the main track.

[Barra]

No its a dead end track. The crossing to the right of the main one is still ok with a bit of shovel work to fill in the ruts.